OCR Text |
Show Good Admixture of Blood in Riflians The Riffs, against whom France and Spain are now waging war, are not wild Arab hillmen, as many suppose, but Berbers, the descendants of the ancient Lybians, who once ruled In north Africa, and of the Norse vikings, vik-ings, whose adventurous raids extended extend-ed to the Lyblan shores. Prof. F. Ber-lioux, Ber-lioux, one of the foremost French historians his-torians of the day, has traced back the ancestry of the present-day adversaries adversa-ries of France and Spain. The ancient Lybians, says Professor Berlioux, once formed a powerful confederation in northern Africa and attained a high degree of culture. It is thought that the early Greeks obtained their cult of Pallas Athene from the Africans, for the oldest statuettes of the goddess show her with the characteristic Berber Ber-ber plaid of goatskin, which was the usual dress of the ancient Berber maidens maid-ens in the Atlas mountains. |